If GM Doesn’t Sell Opel, It Could Go All-Electric

News recently broke that General Motors was in talks with PSA Group, which owns Peugeot, Citroën, and DS, to sell its European subsidiary Opel. However, according to German publication Manager Magazin, there is another possible way that the brand could go, in a plan developed by Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann over the past few months to convert Opel into an all-electric brand. The magazine cited unnamed company sources.

This strategy was made to help ensure Opel’s survival, as Neumann worried that the brand didn’t have the resources to develop both electric and internal-combustion powertrains. To begin with, Opel would be developing new cars based on the architecture of the Chevrolet Bolt, known as the Opel Ampera-e in Europe. As more and more electrics were made, the brand would be divided into “old” and “new” Opel until all models were made electric in 2030.

According to the magazine, GM would have been voting on the plan in May. However, in the face of the possible sale of the brand to PSA, it is very unclear as to whether or not the proposal will be implemented.

Also according to Manager Magazin, Opel’s top managers were taken by surprise with the news of GM’s talks of selling the brand, with only Neumann having possibly known.

Opel declined to put forward an official comment on the magazine’s report.

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